“Everybody wants to blame our quarterback for everything, but in that game against San Diego it was both offense and defense. We didn’t stop them on third down and get off the field, our great little running back [Giovani Bernard] fumbled the football [at the 5-yard line], and we didn’t make any plays on special teams or turn the ball over on defense. It’s easy to point at one guy, but baloney, the football team didn’t play as well as we needed to win.”

Lewis is right that the Bengals, as a whole, played poorly in January against the Chargers. But Dalton was a big reason why the team fell in the first round. In the game, Dalton was 29 of 51 for 334 yards, with one touchdown, two interceptions and two fumbles, one of which the Chargers recovered.

Dalton may not be the sole player to blame for the Bengals loss, but the best quarterbacks in the NFL step up in the playoffs and lead their teams to victories when the rest of the team struggles.

Dalton has shown that he hasn’t been capable of that. In his three career postseason games, he has thrown six interceptions and only one touchdown.

Dalton is entering the last year of his rookie contract and has been seeking a long-term extension. The Bengals have also said that the organization intends to get a deal done.

“I’m hopeful, you know?” Lewis said. “I know he would like to get it done and I know we’d like to get it done, and just hopefully we can get by that deal with my man, [Jay] Cutler in Chicago [seven years $54 million guaranteed] and we can all get something everybody likes.”

Like any quarterback, Dalton has his strengths and his shortcomings. The big question in Cincinnati is how much the Bengals are willing to commit to Dalton in his new contract. If the Bengals give Dalton a deal similar to the one Cutler received from the Bears, they’ll be overpaying him.